UNIZIK Hands Lecturer Three-Month Suspension

AWKA —The Management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, has suspended Prof. Ifeanyi Sunny Odinye, a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies, for three months with half salary following the preliminary findings of a six-member investigative panel into an incident involving the lecturer and a student.

The university also referred the student involved, Chikamso Favour Okechukwu, to its Students’ Examination Misconduct Committee for further investigation.

The decisions followed the preliminary report submitted on Friday, August 21, by the Special Investigative Panel chaired by Prof. Emmanuel Obidimma, Provost of the College of Postgraduate Studies.

The panel was constituted after an incident involving Odinye and Okechukwu on August 15 generated widespread attention following the circulation of a video showing an assault on the lecturer. The university subsequently ordered an investigation and condemned violence, self-help and “jungle justice.”

According to the university, the preliminary report addressed two of the five issues contained in the panel’s terms of reference.

The panel found that Odinye contravened Section 5.8.3 of the university’s General and Academic Regulations by failing to record and submit the alleged examination misconduct involving Okechukwu on the prescribed Examination Misconduct Report Form.

It also found that the lecturer returned to the student, on the same day, a mobile phone allegedly recovered from her during the examination, contrary to Section 5.8.1(iv) of the regulations.

The university said the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ugochukwu Bond Stanley Anyaehie, consequently approved Odinye’s three-month suspension with half salary “on the first instance”.

The remaining three issues before the panel are whether there was sexual harassment, the identities of those involved in the assault on Odinye, and whether there was any incident of kidnapping.

Management has therefore extended the panel’s tenure by another two weeks to enable it complete its investigation and address the outstanding issues.

The university said the panel would submit its final findings and recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor, after which a final decision would be taken, including possible criminal prosecution where necessary.

The university’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Comrade Aloysius Emeka Attah, said the administration remained committed to staff and students’ welfare, transparency and fair hearing.

The management also reaffirmed its zero tolerance for unethical practices, while stressing that all parties involved would be given the opportunity to be heard before the matter is finally determined.

Prof. Odinye is a professor in the Department of Chinese Studies at the university and is recognised by the institution as the first indigenous professor of Chinese language in Nigeria and Africa.